The Dab Motors XSR900 ALTER is one of the most technically ambitious custom motorcycles to come out of the Yamaha Yard Built program, using 3D printing, flax fiber bodywork and digital engineering to push the boundaries of what a bespoke build can be.
From Biarritz to Yamaha's Yard Built program
Simon Dabadie, founder of Dab Motors, is based in Biarritz and brings a rare combination of motorsport experience, industrial design and engineering to his workshop. Rather than relying on hand-beaten metal and traditional fabrication, he uses computational modeling, robotics and advanced materials to arrive at shapes that would be nearly impossible to create conventionally. The ALTER commission, completed for Yamaha Yard Built in 2018, is the clearest expression of that philosophy.
3D printed titanium components by Poly-Shape
In collaboration with Poly-Shape, Dab Design produced the headlight bracket, top triple tree, subframe and handlebar risers using laser beam melting, a powder-bed additive process that sinters metal layer by layer. The resulting parts were sculpted from a 3D scanned model of the donor XSR900 and snap directly onto the frame with no modification. The geometry achieves a flowing organic shape that would require prohibitively complex machining by any other method, and the finished surfaces carry a texture unique to the process.
Flax fiber bodywork with natural translucency
The fairings, tail section and tank cover are built from ampliTex flax fiber supplied by Bcomp. Flax is a natural composite material with good specific stiffness, a fine woven appearance and a degree of translucency that makes it ideal for motorcycle bodywork designed to reveal the components beneath. In collaboration with Compositadour Research, a KUKA industrial robot machined the molds and the body was then laid up layer by layer and bonded with epoxy resin. The semi-transparent weave allows the square LED daytime running light to glow through the fairing, while a central projector provides full night illumination. The aesthetic is part technical, part natural: the flax grain is visible under the resin and changes character in different light.
Performance components and smart connectivity
Dabadie fitted an Arduino micro-controller linked via Bluetooth to an iPhone app, giving the rider full control over the LED lighting across the bike. On the performance side, the ALTER runs Ohlins suspension front and rear, Rotobox RBX2 carbon fiber wheels, Brembo brakes and Michelin Road 5 tires. A DNA high-flow air filter and IXIL SX1 exhaust handle breathing. The ancillary components, including bars, mirrors, grips, brake reservoirs and fuel caps, come from Rizoma, and the rear sets are by Gilles Tooling. The stock speedo was retained but repositioned flat onto the tank cover for a cleaner instrument cluster. The seat is upholstered in Armalith, an abrasion-resistant textile also used in the rider clothing visible in the official images, made to measure by Bolid'Ster.
What does ALTER mean for custom motorcycles?
The ALTER build demonstrates that digital fabrication tools are now capable enough to produce series-ready custom components at a level of precision and consistency that handwork cannot match. 3D printing reduces the iteration cycle from weeks to days, and natural composite materials like flax fiber offer a credible sustainable alternative to carbon fiber for bodywork applications. Dabadie's approach is a useful reference point for any builder asking where custom motorcycle manufacturing is headed.
Photo: BikeEXIF
Explore more custom motorcycles and bespoke two-wheelers in the TheArsenale motorcycles collection, or discover the DAB Motors LM and the BW Yamaha XSR700 by Bad Winners available now.
